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Judge blocks revote in North Las Vegas race
LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Jun. 24, 2011 | 2:05 p.m.
A judge on Thursday temporarily derailed North Las Vegas's plans to schedule a new election in a disputed City Council race.
The council was supposed to set the date for a revote in one Ward 4 precinct during a special meeting because an ineligible voter cast a ballot. Dentist Wade Wagner defeated incumbent Councilman Richard Cherchio by a single vote in the Ward 4 race.
Minutes before Thursday's meeting began, District Judge Allan Earl granted a temporary restraining order that prohibited the council from proceeding.
The order stopped the city from "preparing or conducting a new election in Ward 4," Sandra Douglass Morgan, deputy city attorney, said. "I do not think we can go forward."
The judge set a hearing on a preliminary injunction in the matter for Tuesday.
Former Mayor Michael Montandon and Jay King, both Ward 4 residents, filed the motion for the restraining order. The motion argued that the council violated Nevada's open meeting law last week when it approved a new election though that possibility was not listed on the meeting's agenda.
"The council must list what potential actions are to be taken," said Mark Hutchison, an attorney for Montandon and King. "They can discuss anything, but they have to say what they are going to discuss."
The June 15 agenda item indicated only that the council would consider a "canvass of the June 7, 2011 municipal general election results."
Another section of the item lists a "recommendation" that the council "canvass the results" of the election and "certify the results."
The council certified the results of the city's other two races but decided to redo the Ward 4 vote in precinct 4306, the precinct in which an ineligible voter was allowed to cast a ballot on election night.
Montandon, a resident of the precinct, said filing the motion "was the quickest way" to stop a new election.
"We had to get them to stop somehow," he said. "You don't redo elections. The elections are decided on election day."
Montandon said he thinks the council's only legitimate options were to either certify the election or demand a recount.
Montandon is a Wagner supporter but said he doesn't know the candidate well: "I'm not friends with him, but I respect him."
After the abridged meeting, Cherchio said he was surprised and disappointed by the turn of events.
"This process needed to go forward for the sake of the residents," he said. "It looks more as a reason to delay a process than anything else. I think it's wrong."
Term-limited Councilman William Robinson, who leaves office at the end of the month after nearly 30 years on the council, said he was "mad as hell" at the situation.
Robinson noted that the city redid part of a primary election in 1999 after voting mistakes were found.
Mayor Shari Buck did not attend the meeting and could not be reached late Thursday.
Earlier this week, Wagner filed his own lawsuit against the city and four council members over the decision to order a new election.
Wagner won the election "but is being deprived of the office due to the unlawful actions of partisan City Council members who claim the power to void lawful votes because their preferred candidate lost," that complaint said.
It asked the court to order the city to certify the original election and to stop the city from going forward with a new one. The city has 45 days to respond.
Wagner won the race with 1,831 votes versus Cherchio's 1,830.
Cherchio will be relieved of his duties on the council July 1, leaving four members until the election is resolved.
Precinct 4306 runs from Cheyenne Avenue to Alexander Road and from Revere Street to approximately Interstate 15. Only 110 people in the precinct voted. But if a revote is held, all 1,248 eligible voters can cast ballots.
While he lost the election, Cherchio won in that precinct 56 to 54.
The problem arose after a voter who was registered in another ward was allowed to vote there because he had moved into the precinct.
Officials don't know who the ineligible vote was for because, once ballots are cast, they are mixed and can't be traced back to a specific voter.
The contest between Cherchio, 64, and Wagner, 48, was overshadowed by the war between Cherchio and the city's public safety unions. The police and fire unions opposed Cherchio, campaigning against him door to door, because he was among the council members who voted for cuts to public safety to save money in the cash-strapped city.
North Las Vegas is dealing with a $30.3 million shortfall in fiscal 2012 and last month adopted a budget that included slashing more than 250 positions across city departments. Those positions included those of 40 firefighters and 17 police officers.
Cherchio was appointed to the council in 2009. Council members serve four-year terms and earn $41,827 a year.
Contact reporter Lynnette Curtis at lcurtis@review journal.com or 702-383-0285.
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@Ted_in_Vegas-
Probably because it never happened. After lots of internet searches, as well as searching the Denver Post online archive, I can only conclude that this is anecdotal apocrypha. There is no such thing as a voting district in the U.S. where a ballot can be traced to the voter. Zero. And for good reason. If you've ever voted, you should know this.
Then again, the city did violate the open-meetings law by not openly stating that they would discuss whether to revote.
Hmm, I wonder how they threw out the ballot of that cat that voted in Denver in 1998 then...
@Ted_in_Vegas-
You've never heard of the sanctity and seal of the ballot booth, have you? It would be antithetical to democracy if a system could trace one's ballot to them. Nowhere in the U.S. (including Denver) can you number ballots. It is patently unconstitutional. "Ask the voter"!?!?! Are you effin' serious? The city's ranking is secure, "Here's yer sign..."
Either ask the voter or, if their system is hi-tech enough, compare the confirmation # of the ballot against the candidates (all of them) voted for on that ballot. Denver did something like a few years ago, but didn't make the news because the margin of victory was larger than the number of invalid votes cast.
@Ted_in_Vegas-
Okay, Super-Genius, which candidate loses a vote?
What no one has even attempted to explain yet is why NLV isn't following NORMAL election procedure and simply tossing or subtracting the ineligible vote and certifying the result. That's what SHOULD happen; that's what happens in NORMAL cities. Why the revote? Are they hoping that enough new voters participate so that the LEGAL vote is tossed out!? This really is just the NLV city council acting in a corrupt and potentially illegal manner to protect one of their own. All of the council members should be tossed out now.
Also, Montandon's claim that he "doesn't know [Wagner] well" rings entirely hollow. Around Mother's Day, I recieved a mailer from Montandon's wife, Antoinette, with a glowing PERSONAL endorsement for Wagner. A few days before the election, I recieved another mailer from Mike Montandon and Shari Buck with glowing PERSONAL endorsement from both of them. Hey Mikey, you're speaking out of both sides of your mouth. Not that it's unusual for you.
I say fit them with boxing gloves, set up a ring in front of city hall and give them 5 or 6 rounds to decide the winner---no whiners allowed !
Mike Montandon is a Mormon Bishop excercising ecclesiastical authority over ALL Mormon voters in Precinct 4306. How interesting that he is the person tapped by Wagner's campaign to file for the temporary injunction. Montandon's name associated with this issue = signaling to Mormon voters? It's worth considering.